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BY R. H. CHITTENDEN 



CONTENTS ' 



RE-ELECTION OF LINCOLN 



A HUNDRED YEAR8 AGO TO-DAY 



]Brooklyn, N. Y. 
1876. 




Entered according to an act of Congress, by R. II. Chittenden, in the otfice of the Librarian of 
Cougress, at Washington, D. C, hi the yeax 1876. 



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THE RE-ELECTION OF LINCOLN. 



Delivered at the Inaugural Festival of the German Union Republicans, at 
New York City, March 5, 1865. 
Mb. President and Gentlemen: 

I count myself highly honored l>y yonr co-araittee's invitation to be present on this 
memorable occasion, and I thank you cordially for yoar kind reception. Fur spvernl years 
I have participated in yonr social and political festivities, and I desire to acknowledge that 
you have uniformly extended to me, an American " to the manor born," that fraternal 
Fympathy which is inspired by our glorious cause, and unites in one common brotherhood 
the sons of Liberty of every tongue and clime. 

The accident of birth gives me no claim to yonr consideration, but you who have 
voluntarily chosen my fatherland as the home of your aioption, are thereby entitled to 
mine. And nobly have yon vindicated your title to American citizenship. Gloriously 
have you been naturalized, my German comrade, on many a hard-contested field ! That 
honorable scar is yonr best credential ! Many a hero who b'ed at the hands of Earopean 
aristocrats has died at the hands of Southern slaveocratf ! Your timely immigration gave 
needed strength to the aati-slavery cause I Yonr votes decided the Presidential contest of 
1860. Under the lamented Lyon, Siegel, and Fremont, the path-finder, you wrested Mis- 
souri from the grasp of Treason. 

More recently you have aided in the redemption of the empire state ,from the shame- 
ful administration of Seymour. Therefore you may well celebrate this day ! Fonr years 
ago we assembled to gird ourselves for battle — to-day we meet crowned with victory ! Four 
years ago Southern traitors and their Northern abettors and sympathizers, declaring that 
Abraham Lincoln was not the President of the United States, but of a sectional majority — 
that he held, like Macbeth "a barren sceptre in h's grasp, no kin of his succeeding," 
— raised the standard of rebellion and fired upon Sumter. 

We took up the gauntlet, — we accepted the issue, — declared that the President de jure 
should be the President de facto,- that the Union must and shall be preserved. We threw 
aside all party preferences. I fought at Manassas with a Douglass man on my right hand, 
and a Bell man on ' my left. 

To-day we meet to celebrate the virtual accomplishment of our purpose. It is true 
that no kin of Lincoln has succeeded him, lor he himself has succeeded. He is no longer 
a minority President, no longer a mere President dejurc. 

We are no less enthusiastic to-day than we then were, but our enthusiasm is deeper 
and tempeied by sad experience. 

When the South revolted we were wholly unprepared for war. An embecile old man 
was at the helm — traitors were in his cabinet — traitors in the senate. I had the good 
fortune to witness the assembling of tha Senate on the fourth day of July, 1861. Though 
Beauregard lay encamped not forty miles from the capital, Breckinridge had the audacity 
to appear in our senate ! We had our Cataline, but where was our Cicero ? 

To-day loyalty prevails in Washington. Beauregard has fled from Charleston, and our 
army and navy challenge the world ! 

The curtain now rises upon the last act of the sublimest national drama ever enacted ! 
American soil the stage, American heroes the actors, the civilized world the anxious 
spectators ! There was a dramatic fitness in this monster, Rebellion, receiving its mortal 
blow on the accursed spot that gave it bi.th ! It is wonderful that before the fourth anni- 
versary of the attack upon Sumter, the 1 )yal hands of a gallant New York soldier raised 
above its shapedless walls the stars and stripes, never again to be displaced by a palmetto 
rag! It was most fitting that the glad tidings should reach us just as the noble Terry 



RE-E1,ECTI0N OF LINCOLN". 



marched into Wilmington welcomed by the shouts of benediction and joyful tears of the 
enfranchised victims of rebellion on that never-to-be-forgotten anniversary of Washing- 
ton's birthday. 

It is most fitting tliat the death of this hydra should be at Richmond, — its last ditch 
into which Grant, Terry, Sljerman, Thomas and Sheridan are driving it,the last misera- 
ble remains of the once boasted coufe'leracy, and where the valiant rebel senators are so 
anxious not to die ! Yes, it is fitting and proper that slavery, (he parent of this monstrous 
treason, should perish at its capital and by the hands of its friends! 

The rock upon which the Union well nigh split, has proved the ruin of Treason. Ah! 
je proud. chiv.ilric women-whippers of Virginia, your time has come ! 

The blood of two hundred tLousaud loyal man of the north, the bones of unnumbered 
union men of tbe South l)leaehing in swarups and thickets, — the mouldering dust of your 
misguided followers-and the tears of a million widows and orphans have not called in vain 
upon Heaven for vengeance ! Well may you pale with fear ! We hear you, even now, in 
tones of despair, " with bated breath and in a bondman's key," "mploring the aid of your 
slaves, " Save us, Sambo, Save us, Pompey, or we peiishi" But will they come when 
they are culled ? L^t Goverior Brown answer. "We cannot expect our slaves to fight for 
the enslavement of their wives and children." 

The Greeks at Platea won the victory by the aid of five thousand slaves whom they 
at once emarcipated. When General Lee proposes to follow the Grecian example, there is 
howl at R'chmor d : " Promise liberty to our slaves as the reward of bravery, and we ad- 
mit by implication that freedom is preferable to slavery ; we abaadou the principle for 
which we fijuht. Let us be consistent and die !" 

But the hour of victory is the hour of magnanimity, " Vengeance is m'ne, I will rejiay, 
saith the Loid."' We exult in the success of our cause, not in the punish-netit of the guilty. 
No wrong, individual or national, ever went unpunished. How terribly have we of the 
north been punished for our complicity with American slavery ! Is it not remarkable that 
while so long as the administration ni»de negro-catchers of onr soldiers, so long as it pur- 
sued ahalting, half-way, McClellan policy, so long defeat followed defeat until it seemedasif 
the days of the republic were numbered,bntthat as soon as the President issued his Proclama- 
tion of Freedom, the scale <urucd and onr armies were everywhere successful ? And now 
since Congress has adopted the amendment, victory seems to rest permanently on our stand- 
ard. Who can tell us why these things are so? '^ IJoo iIpus fecit." It is the work of the 
Divine Dramatist. In view of tbe mighty events which come thronging around us, our 
enthusiasm is mingled with adoration of tbe God of history, who has so gloriously educated 
the American people to their grand destiny! Fellow citizens, it is worth the while to 
live in these times. It is enncjbling to have a part, however humble, in this great struggle 
before which tbe events of past dwindle into comparative insignificance. Methitiks I be- 
hold the Muse of history pausing with astonishment and delaying to resume her pen un- 
til my country's grand destiny shall have been accomplished ! 

Yes, battle-scarred veteran, that mutilated limb is a badge of imperishable honor and 
tbe memory of your service shall be your child's richest legacy. Amid the bustle and 
turmoil of the struggle the republic may seem ungrateful, but your reward. shall come 
when the work shall have been done. 

Freedom and Slavery, Demociacy and Aristocracy have fought their Waterloo on 
American soil and the right has triumphel ; I repeat has triumphed, for future rebel suc- 
cesses can only proK ng the contest. Tl e hero of Atlanta knows no defeat. As old Abe 
says : Sherman went in at Atlanta and came out at Savannah. He has now gone in at 
Charleston and will come out at Richmond. Like the arrow his course is invisible ; like 
the arrow he is first seen piercing the ol>jective. His campaign Irom Chatanooga rivals 
Napoleon's in Italy, and by his gigantic Anabasis from Savannah to Richmond he shall 
win additional laurels and confer upon expectant rebels their crowning "blessing in ■dis- 
guise." 



RE-ELECTION OF LINCOLN. 



Bat says some timid friend, " Will yon make a solitude and call it peace ?" Yes, Mr. 
President, Charleston in peaceful desolition, is prefemble to Gh irleston. the hot-bed of 
treason. 

The end is at hand. The crisis came on the eighth day of November, 18(;4. That 
safely past, the ultimate success of onr cause was morally certain. Thai; decisive victory at 
the polls as well as our recent triumphs in the field, we now coinmemorafe. The jirch- 
traitor beholds the hand-writing on the wall and surrounds him with a double guard. 
His miserable dupes no iDnger desert singly but by scores. The foundation of the Union 
as it shall be, as Washington and Jefferson intended it to be, at hist has been laid upon 
the corner-stone of liberty and equality before the law to all men. The negro has forced 
from his mas'er a recognition of his manhood at the point of the bayonet, and there is no 
Taney to gainsay it. He is no longer a chattel personel, but a citizen sold'er. John 
Brown is vindicated and the Declaration of In dependence is no longer a dead letter or a 
" glittering generality." The American abroad is no longer taunted with the mi.serable 
inconsistency of American slavery. 

The republic has been renovated and enters upon a new life. Its constitution has 
survived the heroic treatment the disease demanded. It has been found adequate to the cri- 
sis. The pestilent dogma of state sovereignity, which culminated in treason, lias been confined 
within its legitimate sphere. The President recognizing the fu-ulamental principle under, 
lying all con.stitutious, salu.'^populi snpremd lex, has not hesitated to exercise the extraordinary 
constitutional powers which aimed rebellion called into activity, and has thereby won a 
npti.in's gratitude. To-day it is manifested. Bat few men have been twice[elected President. 
They are Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson and Lincoln. 

Fifty years hence the last shall be second in the hearts of bis countrymen ! 

To save the body politic amputation was unnecessary. The virus had not reachef the 
nation's heart. The moral character of the people will have been ennobled by the war. 
It shall come forth from the crucible purified from dross. The tree of liberty, watered by 
the blor)d of our braves, shall flourish and bear fruit for the healing of nations so long as 
we and those who follow us remain its worthy branches. 

We have learned that men can live 'and die, not for gold, but fDr an idea. We have 
shown the trembling aristocrats of Europe that the freest government is the strongest and 
that the only sure tenure of authority is the will of the people. 

It remains for us hereafter to teach them that our mission is not confined by our 
territorial limits, — that although there is such a thing as a balance of power in the old 
world, their aid is not required in conducting the aflfairb of the new. and that we do not 
contemplate with indiflference the subversion of a sister republic by the minions of the un- 
scrupulous Erapeior of the French, who like the first Napoleon, seeks to found an empire 
\ipon the ruins of democracy. Thank God that at last the day has dawned ! 

But alas, there are vacant seats at our festive board Some who joined in our cele- 
bration four years ago are absent. Would that they, who died to usher in this day, might 
join in our thanksgiving. As I bel'eve they did not svholly die, so do I believe that from 
their celestial abode they are now looking down upon us with delight! ' Yea, were our 
vision not obstructed by this mortal medium, perhaps we might behold them in our very 
midst! Could they speak, melhinks they would say to us: We have died in vain if ye heed not 
tht lesson of the past ! Individaal integrity is the life of the republic. The whole can- 
not be purer than its p^rts ; the stream cannot lise higher than its fountain. Permit the 
corruption which pollutes your great raetropol's to extend it.self to the country fireside, 
and you .shall read the fate of your republic in the crumbling monu'uents of ancient Rome; 
but carry the precepts of the Gospel int<} your public places and its foundation now s<j 
well established, shall rest unshaken forever! 

■I behold in this assembly, men who, seventeen years ago, f )Ught fi)r L'berty and 
Union for your fatherland. Let me congratul ile you th it your student d-eim is an ac- 
complished fact. You can now say to those you left behind : Come to America, for here 
is realized the ideal of Goethe! 



ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO TO-DAY. 



Und so verbringt umrungen von Gefahr, 

Hier Kindheit, Mann und Greis eein tuechtig Jahr. 

Solch ein Gewimmel moecht ich sehen 

Anf freiem Grund mit f reiem Volke stehen ! 

And 80 doth pa^s secured from every fear, 

The child, the man, the sire, his fruitful year; 

Such busy throng may I e'er dying see 

On a free soil a people truly free ! 



Thou dear old flag, dearer than erst by far, 
No stripe erased, a ttate for every star I 
Of banners all most beautiful and best. 
The dread of tyrants, hope of the oppressed. 
O'er lani and sea tiiumphantly shalt wave. 
O'er freemen ever, never more o'er slave. 



A HUNDRED YEARS AGO TO-DAY I 

July 4th, 187&. 

I. 

A hundred years ago to-day, 

That starry flag our sires uufurled. 
When rose the sun of Liberty 

Refulgent o'er a waiting world ! 
The tyrant trembled on his throne. 

The slave forgot his galling chain, 
When swore the hero, Washington, 

" Our flag is not unfurled in vain ! " 

Cforus. — All hail the day of Jubilee ! 

All hail Columbia's aiatal day! 
From pole to pole, from sea to sea, 
Shall millions bless her gentle sway I 

II. 

The men of seventy-six are dead. 

They bravely fought and nobly woti. 
Nor deemed they, when the Briton fled^ 

The war for freedom but begun. 
They are not dead, our patriot sires I 

In sixty-one they rose again. 
Kindled anew our altar fires, 

And Slavery's fetter burst in twain. 

III. 

Alas! the fratricidil strife, 

And bloody price for Union paid ! 
Alas ! to save the nation's life 

Oar best and bravest low were laid ! 
Now dawns the new centennial year 

Of freedom, peace and honesty ! 
Triast Him to rule its grand career 

Who sends this day of Jubilee. 



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